The Miko and the Hanyou
by ThoseRandomTigers
Summary: Feudal AU. Kikyou jumps down the well after her family dies, only to find the Kami won't let her go just yet. She trains as a miko, living for her duty, until one day she meets a boy. Child!Inu Later InuxKag. Rated for attempted suicide and cursing.
1. Prologue

**This is the Prologue. Enjoy.**

**11/12/11 – Edited to look and read better.**

I walked towards my family, my backpack casually slung over my shoulder. They were going to celebrate my graduation from high school. _Finally._ Icouldn't have been happier with myself, remembering all the studying and the headaches that I'd gone through then.

Especially with math, which was ridiculously difficult compared to archery or history, practically anything else. I wondered where they'd eat, and what clothes Mom would wear. Probably the dress with the blue trim. The same shade as her eyes, and father's. I flinched a little at this thought, but if you weren't watching carefully, you'd never notice.

There Souta and Mother were, smiling and waving. Mother's face beamed with pride, and Souta's had a sort of boyish giddiness to it, mostly because of the atmosphere. I couldn't blame him, really. He was just a kid. Five years younger than me. He was born that way, anyways. Sometimes I felt a bit like I was ten years older. He tried to help, but he was a kid. In more ways than just being born earlier.

An old soul, Mom had called me sometimes. She rarely did, not anymore. I'd gotten skilled at acting. Among other things.

After the accident, I'd learned a lot of survival stuff, like how to wield a knife properly, what plants you could eat, and just how to start a fire with wood. It was much harder than it seemed to be in the movies, by the way, but I'd finally, finally, figured it out.

And I'd exercised a lot to build up muscle. I was the crazy fitness girl, perfect at everything from math to gym but quiet to my classmates, but I don't mind the title. Much. At any rate, my life was more important than some silly nickname. Especially one that came from my from my naïve classmates.

With a false smile that didn't quite reach my eyes, though I certainly tried, I looked at my family again. I could see that grandfather was practically bursting with excitement and stifled a groan. Another weird relic, by that look. I hoped he hadn't found a way to top the weirdest gift yet, a "kappa's hand". Or so he claimed. It really just amounted to a nice chew toy for Buyo. The fat cat was dead now, though. He'd been chubby to the last.

My attention wandered again as I responded half-heartedly to them, not really paying attention. Mom could see it, sometimes, but this time she didn't mention it. I walked to the station, passed the tickets over, and smiled in all the right places in the conversation, occasionally adding "Wonderful!" or "Great!" or sometimes "Okay." when they paused. I got the gist of it, though.

Souta, for instance, was rambling about how great it was that she was an adult and would be around more, her mother was glowing with quiet pride and worry, and Grandpa was, of course, saying how she was now free to become a shrine maiden. A miko.

Of course, it was ridiculous-sounding, with his fake sutras and silly relics, but I couldn't really see anything else catching my interest. Maybe professional archery, but I could humor grandfather as well. Not as if I had a boyfriend or anything, not for lack of the boys trying at first. I didn't wish for one. And eventually my gloom turned them away.

I watched as the stairs to the house loomed in front of us, with Goshinboku. That tree. I'd spend hours starting at the smooth bark, running my hand along it, looking at the blossoms that blanketed it in spring. I'd heard her mother talking about how… The proposal had happened there, and when the sadness had blanketed me, so much I'd felt stifled, I went there. I was oddly comforted by the tree. It stood there, so strong and steady, in the midst of the rushing, unsteady paths that life took.

It was my personal anchor, moreso than mother or Souta or crazy grandfather, who each had their own bit. Unexplainable, I know, but that's the way it is. Taking calm strides, I made my way to the house, trailing over every detail. The paint, the tiles. It didn't look too different, physically, and it was perfectly serviceable, but I used to resent it emotionally.

It looked just like it had when dad had died. Maybe a new coat of paint here or a photo there, but it was too familiar, too painful a reminder. I'd yell at it in my head, pound my fists on the furniture, cry. But the irrational anger faded away to cold indifference with time. Why did it matter, anyways? He was still dead. Nothing mattered anymore, not enough. I still remembered how he would laugh at my antics, or pick me up and sling me over his shoulder, or read me a story at bedtime. I remembered the warm glow that had encased us when he held me in his lap. I didn't have that anymore.

It hurt, and hurt deeply. My heart had ached, until I'd stopped trying to hold it in and simply cast the damned organ away. There was a void, an echoing emptiness, but it was better than enduring the pain. Much better. Even if mother looked worried sometimes, it was none of her business what I did with my emotions. I'd seal them up in a box and lock it with heavy chains and drop it in the sea if I needed to.

Entering my bedroom, I slumbered, enjoying the quiet, the honest blankness I saw in the mirror, after the false front I'd plastered on at the table. Maybe one day I'd put my heart back inside, after time had dulled the prickling pain that stabbed me to the core. Little did I know just how much further things would swing to the side of insanity before I finally started recovering. All the way to worlds of myth, legend, and general mayhem, in fact.

Weeks afterwards, I waved after Grandpa, Mom, and Souta as they left. They were going to enjoy themselves. Some spot, a place where there was yelling and laughing. I think it was one of the parks in the city, but I don't really remember. A foreboding feeling crept into my system as the day wore on and they didn't return. Grandpa, at least, should be back. He enjoyed letting me take care of the shrine, but he always rushed back to it. I think that the old place was as much a part of him as his arm.

I paced. I read. I practiced my archery, which was best, watching the center of the target and drawing a mental bead, focusing on the straining of the bow and the rush of the wind and the target. Nothing else. But the sky grew dark, the lights from the buildings grew greater, when I finally sucked it up and called the cell number.

Nothing.

I couldn't send a missing persons report until a day had passed, but I still paced and turned on the news. That might help. I listened halfheartedly to the all-too-dark talk of global warming and murders and politics. I twitched. I called the cell again.

There was no answer.

I slammed it down a little harder than necessary and watched the news, focusing on the traces of anger. I'd have _words _when they got back. I didn't let myself think about them not coming back until the phone rang, and I anxiously grabbed it. A voice. Not Mom's or Souta's or even Grandpa's.

"Hello, is this the Higurashi residence?" A voice asked. Calm and subdued.

"Yes. What do you want?" A feeling of dread enveloped me.

"I'm sorry to say that Aiko, Souta, and Jinko Higurashi have been found dead." Dead. Not a pause. Not hesitant or sorry. Just matter of factly.

"D-dead?" I asked, hoping desperately I'd misheard. I wasn't so lucky.

"Yes. From a shooting. Witnesses said they were attacked by a group of criminals. Someone gave them guns. We're still-"

I didn't speak after that, even though I could hear the other person on the line going on pointlessly, to fill the silence. I was still trying to process it. No. They couldn't be dead. This was all some silly little mistake. No. Not dead. Not _dead._ I couldn't take it if they were really dead. But eventually, a feeling of tranquility grew in my mind. I knew what I could do, rather than sitting there and taking the constricting, blinding pain. I shut off the phone, not really caring what the other person thought. It didn't matter.

Nothing mattered anymore.

Smoothing my garb, an old age replica of miko clothing that Grandpa got me, I walked to the old, somewhat creepy well-house that the shrine hosted. The Bone-Eater's Well, it was called. Well, the name was all too fitting. It would have another corpse to eat before the night was out. I stood before it, pulling apart the wooden covering. It was erratically plastered with sutras. Some were new, and some were yellowed and fading.

Either way, I supposed, it didn't matter. I was no demon, if they even worked, and it didn't stop me. Staring down into the seemingly bottomless depths, I remembered an old line from Father, when I was too young to comprehend death.

"Heaven, my dear, is where we go after death to be together."

Maybe afterwards I'd see him again. Letting the images of my family swim before my eyes, I closed them and jumped, hoping to hit my head and wake to my family.

'I wish to be whole again.' Was my sole thought and motive for the plunge.

However, unbeknownst to me, a pink light gleamed from my side, and a blue light shimmered in return. Greater forces than I'd ever imagined were at work.


	2. Aura?

**Alone and Lost**

**Thanks to Ryokomist, xXxAddicted2ChocolatexXx, and WindScarShikionInuKags for noticing this budding story.**

**11/12/11 – Edited to correct accidental third-person and to clean it up.**

The first thing that I was aware of after opening my eyes to see what was taking so long was a blue light.

It comforted me, seeming to pulse softly, like the ebb and flow of ocean waters. I wondered if this was heaven, then, or the path to it. I'd honestly expected something a bit different. But this was not all that bad, either.

I closed my eyes again, just resting and feeling completely peaceful, opening them again only when startled by a feeling of solid ground beneath my feet. I was no longer free-falling. Feeling a lingering warmth and strength in my veins, I eyed my surroundings. It seemed well-like enough. Only this well had vines growing from the sides, growing up to its mouth.

And the mouth! It had no wooden roof, instead displaying stars and stars, seemingly endless dots of light in such a tiny gap. Smiling widely, I climbed up the vines, wishing fleetingly for a ladder of some sort. But when I finally reached the top, I only stared around and heaved myself over the edge. The disappointment bit down hard when I finally registered where I was.

I was surrounded by a forest, hundreds of trees ranging around me. But I had no idea where Mom, or Father, or Grandpa or even Souta were. Looking around in confusion, I decided to head in the direction of the largest tree I could see, for orientation. Maybe I could climb up it and see where I was, if nothing else.

And when I finally got there, my jaw hit the floor. Goshinboku. But where was the shrine? It looked lonely and solemn against the night sky. Sighing heavily, I laid my head to rest on the bark. I really needed to think about where the heck I was. I was fairly certain that heaven would have had my family here by now.

And I wasn't tortured, at least not actively, so _probably_ not hell. Purgatory? But I didn't think I'd done anything to deserve that, and in any case I didn't think dying of boredom would help me overcome any sins. And that was the only danger so far… Or maybe I was destined to starve to death, or die of loneliness.

My head aching, I sank to my knees, drawing my only comfort from Goshinboku. It had always been a calm center, the eye of the storm. The fact that it was still here now only intensified the feeling. I jumped, scrabbling at the bark, grasping a branch and scrambling up onto it. Finding a likely looking space, I nestled there; I was pretty glad I didn't roll in my sleep at that moment. Closing my eyes, I slept.

…

Later I woke up. Tensing at the snap of a branch, I turned to face it, nearly plummeting off the branch before remembering I was there above the ground, and then eying the source of the noise. A… person? They seemed to shimmer with a warm energy, and I found myself relaxing a little despite myself. I somehow felt that this person meant me no harm. Maybe it was a part of whatever place this was, to feel like this about people.

In any case, I didn't rush away as fast as my feet could carry me. I listened instead.

"Hello, priestess?" a voice called out. I looked around. No one else but the speaker was about, so far as I could tell. Sighing, I brought myself to a sitting position and jumped down, grunting slightly as I hit the ground. Then there was running, probably triggered from the sudden sound. I looked up at the woman who appeared now, garbed in miko clothing she recognized from movies and books about ancient culture.

"Are you the priestess?"

"No."

"Then why is your aura so large? It's quite obvious, actually."

At this I glanced down and looked at myself. I was wearing miko imitation clothing. But I didn't think I had an aura, did I? Maybe I did here. Squinting, I _looked_, and for a second the air around me seemed to be practically blazing with blinding white-blue light, and when I blinked again, it was gone. What. The. Hells.

"I… Do?" I sputtered out, quite confused. It was more a question than a statement.

"Ah, you didn't know? Well. I sensed a powerful aura, and sure enough, you're the center of it."

At this I glanced around. What in the world? Was she one of the spiritualist people who saw auras and shit like that? Chewing on my lip, I considered it. No buildings, weird clothing, someone actually walking instead of biking or driving, people believing in the supernatural. The air itself smelt different, now that I thought about it. Somehow sweeter and fresher. Don't ask me how, but the air I used to breathe seemed thin and bitter by comparison. Like water against hot chocolate, fresh with a marshmallow.

"I'm sorry. I don't understand what you mean by powers."

"Yes. It's surprising that no one noticed you, but I suppose that it's possible. Must be, if you don't know about your powers at all. But what did you do about demons?"

What about them? Did she believe demons existed? What if they did exist? After all, this wasn't the same Tokyo it'd been before. Hell, was I even in Tokyo anymore, or even Earth?

"We were lucky enough to never be bothered by them."

"No surprise, considering your immense powers. Tells them to stay away, unless they're stronger, and I doubt many of them are. But you must be trained. Where is your home?"

I couldn't exactly tell her it was on the other end of a well, which was my best guess. If I wasn't dead, since she didn't seem aware of being dead or anything, then I had somehow been transported here.

"I got a bit lost. I don't know where it is now. Do you know?" I asked.

"What's it called?"

"Tokyo." I responded, not adding Japan. This _seemed _to have similar trees and wildlife to Japan, plus the Goshinboku. I didn't need to be marked as an outsider further if this was still Japan. I was, after all, oblivious to the powers that she seemed to mark as obvious.

"Never heard of it." She responded. Somehow, I wasn't particularly surprised.

"Well, could you take me to where you're from, then? I don't think I could get back to Tokyo now."

"Yes."

We walked then, side by side. It was quiet, very quiet. Finally, I decided to break the silence.

"What's your name?"

"Megumi. And yours?"

"Kimiko." The false name I'd picked once upon a time. The irony.

Normally I wouldn't have lied about my name. But normally I wouldn't be in a strange place with an odd stranger with no idea how I could get home or even if I could trust anyone. So I wasn't upset about lying. And it was a good name. Started with a similar sound to my name, if I slipped. I'd chosen it for once when some teachers had taught how to give a false name. I'd never thought to need it when they had, but now I did, apparently. Fun fun fun.

"Ah. Kimiko."

And that was all that was said before they reached the town. I spent the time focusing on my given name. I wanted to have it ingrained into my mind when we got there. Glancing beside myself, I noticed that she carried a staff, one that she subtly used to check in front of her. Was she blind? Maybe. But then how did she see the aura? Maybe she was only mostly blind. I wasn't going to try and rationalize the aura and the getting here, because quite frankly it was impossible unless you believed in what Megumi seemedto.

So I'd have to follow her lead, it seemed.

When we got there, it was a small hut. She lived there? I'd thought that mikos either traveled constantly or lived in shrines. But then again, I was hardly in a position to criticize. She moved inside and got me some food, which I took without a word and ate quietly.

"Thank you."

That was all I said afterwards, and it was all that was needed, it seemed, in relation to the stew.

"So… What should I do?"

"You should become my student."

And she explained how she'd teach me to make shields, both solid and purifying, shikigami and sutras(I'd learn to read too, it seemed.). She talked about sensing auras as one of them, and teaching me to use a weapon like her staff. I interjected there, and she blinked in surprise.

"Bow."

"What, child?"

"I can use a bow." I explained. After some thought, I added to it.

"And write."

"Really? That is wonderful."

She sounded, surprised, like she expected me to be clueless. Then again, I wasn't exactly normal either. Running that through my head, I remembered that girls were usually worthless in less modern cultures, and even in my time and place they were sometimes sterotyped. So, people would think I'd be mostly worthless. Except as a bride. Or miko, I added to myself. Sometimes geishas, I think. I was glad to be the second option then.

"My family was odd." I said in explanation.

A nod.

"Why don't you show me your archery?" she asked

I looked around, spotting the bow. It was huge, as per tradition. Grabbing it, I noticed that it seemed a bit stiff. Perhaps she didn't practice regularly. Maybe because of her impaired eyesight. No comment on my wide blue eyes or my pale skin or my wavy black hair. Everyone noticed it at first, assumed I was a half-blooded Japanese girl. It was true. Father was not Japanese. I clung to the reminders that I wasn't completely Japanese, part _father's _child, refusing to wear contacts or anything that hid it even the slightest. Not that there was much pressure to do so, due to mother. As I grew older, the racism had faded away, and my "exotic" look was attractive, supposedly.

I found an arrow, dusting it off and placing it to the bow, straining to move it to its fullest, aiming for a far tree. Right on a whorl in the wood, I decided.

THUNK.

I could hear the arrow hitting the tree, see the mere dot that showed that it was there. From a glance at Megumi, I guessed that she could tell too. She nodded approvingly.

"Imagine the arrow lighting. Draw part of your aura into it."

I tried. But nothing happened. Imagining didn't help a bit. So I tried to draw my aura into it, whatever that was. I closed my eyes, thinking and thinking. I felt something around me now, something warm that seemed like an extra limb. I tried to imagine it tumbling into the arrow, flowing. But although it was mine, my power or aura or whatever was rebellious and impossible to control, huge. It flowed into the arrow and through it, letting it glow faintly as a little drew in but fading away the second my concentration faded in the slightest.

Megumi nodded, like she'd expected this. Maybe she had. Maybe she was just seeing if I would be even more odd.

"First, you must learn meditation and control."

I just nodded back. It seemed that neither of us would be much of a chatterer. Especially not me. I was still suffering from my loss. It was just numbed by shock.

"I will teach you, after you settle in."

This was a surprise, and I blinked. I'd just sort of assumed, despite her words, that the helping thing would be temporary. Not that I was complaining. She took out an old, battered futon for me and I lay inside it quite thankfully. Closing my eyes to have a real sleep after the marathon walk and sleeping in a tree, I slept, really giving credit to how having someone around had lessened the hurt the slightest bit.


	3. Maturing & Meeting

**It's slow going, mostly because the main story is later, when Kagome is mostly out of her depression and she meets Inuyasha. It's patchwork here. So I speeded things up, and probably missed some stuff that I could have added. But Inuyasha is the meat of the story, and so here the long chapter is.**

**Thanks to Ryokomist for reviewing and v-alice for favoriting.**

I watched as Megumi prepared the soup, mixing and stirring, watching the fire. I'd never really focused on cooking more than toast before, and it was mesmerizing watching. I did it every day. But I refused to eat any more than a few bites, and even that was mechanical and unwanted, just to keep myself going as she wished. Even old and nearly blind, she was a companion, something I desperately wanted, though I rarely spoke any more than monosyllables.

The only thing I really did was meditation and shooting, hitting the targeted beads I made in my mind, and sometimes the living ones. The first time I got one, which was fairly quickly, considering I was already expert with still targets, I watched as the victim struggled away, slowly having the life bleed from it, and felt an uncanny sense of déjà vu. I wasted away, and it was only her watchful eye that made me keep going at all. Once, when she was gone out on a trip to see some town, I went to Goshinboku and well.

I looked at the well, the odd thing that the kami refused to let me use to end my life. I wondered if I should try again. My life was little better here, where-ever here was. I wished I was reincarnated, or at least without memories of the life before the well brought me here. Then I made my way to Goshinboku.

There the old tree was, although it was a little younger and shorter. The calm and peace it always radiated calmed my heart. I thought of Megumi, and fate, and how at least I wasn't still trapped in Tokyo. I didn't want to return, to the place filled with bitter air and memories. I turned and left, to return to the hut before Megumi did, although it was probably going to be a few days until she did. We were far away from towns here, a day or so's journey. Goshinboku was only a few hours away.

When I returned, I looked at the dusty hut that was my home of sorts. I thought about my mentor. I walked through the forests I tried to ignore the hollow ache that still came every so often. And I practiced my meditation.

When it was about time for Megumi to return, I went out hunting. Keeping my bow and arrow handy, I shot a wild boar, although it bared its tusks at me and charged. I wasn't really afraid of it. Although I'd decided to not end my life, I still hadn't persuaded myself to continue living.

I prepared the boar, like I'd seen Megumi do, though it was clumsily done. And as I stewed the meat, I looked at the entails. My stomach rumbled of its own accord. And before I could really realize what I was doing, I'd spitted it best as I could on a stick and roasted the odd assortment of meats. Thus ended my self-imposed fasting.

When Megumi returned she blinked and looked shocked at how I'd come out of my hole and made something to eat, when I'd eaten practically nothing the past few weeks. I couldn't really blame her. She tried to talk to me, and I responded. But I actually paid attention to the words that came from my mouth automatically and mechanically before.

"I went to the village nearest to our home. It was called Edo. Would you like the visit sometime?" She said, soothingly and cautious. I assume that she was afraid that she would somehow ruin my odd recovery.

"Maybe." 

"They had a youkai problem. It was a centipede youkai. They're always a bit quick, but this one was easy enough."

Silence from me, as I thought about it, ignoring the rest. Then I suddenly spoke.

"You can defeat them because of your… spiritual powers, right?"

A shocked look from Megumi that was quickly hidden. I'd never spoken such a long sentence since I'd first come, explaining why I was here. Draped in lies of course, because I honestly had very little clue.

"Yes."

"And I have them too, apparently." I added, a little skeptical, a little hopeful.

"And they're quite powerful as well." She added.

A long pause.

"Could you teach me to use them?"

"Of course."

Of course. Two words to mean a lot of things. For me, it meant the start of rigorous training, consisting mostly of meditation to get them under control, and learning to use them offensively.

One day, when I tried to focus my power into an arrow, I succeeded, and it flared brightly as it sailed through the air.

Another day I managed to make a shield, shimmering and glaringly bright, a whitish blue light like the hottest of flames. There was so much energy I couldn't see Megumi through it, unlike the clear blue tingle of Megumi's barrier. When I set a hand against it, it went through, although my hands were pins and needles for a second. And I'd thought, for just a second, that it had been hard and smooth and unyielding. It was so startling I lost my focus, and as quickly as it had appeared it was gone.

Apparently it was unusually fast for an adult learner, or even a child learning to harness their powers. But I really didn't know exactly what this meant.

Armed with my powers, I set out one day with Megumi. The lizard youkai that we killed had been harassing the villagers. It looked frighteningly ugly, with fangs and a fat, swollen belly. But I aimed, heedless of the hissing, and fired. It was so much ash on the wind the next second, to my surprise.

A routine of slaying random youkai, training, and her attempts to get me to speak slowly formed, like a piece of metal hammered into shape by a blacksmith. Far from lovely, it was still serviceable, and the routine kept me caring a little about my life, although the corpses I occasionally saw were depressing reminders. After I threw up several times over them, I eventually grew numb to their horrors.

Another thing I grew numb to, even moreso than before in Tokyo, was the looks and whispers. Whatever they'd been expecting when they sent for Megumi and her apprentice, "Kimiko", I was not it. My skin was pale and only slightly tinged pinkish, not like a pure Japanese woman. My eyes were even more talked about, blue as they were. Like the sky, or like the water, or like ice. Never was it referred to as a flower, although there were some blue ones, and I didn't expect it.

They sometimes suggested in low tones that I was a youkai, maybe a kitsune, but they quieted when I killed whatever happened to be bothering them. Out of fear or reverence, I had no clue. Slowly I gained a name, Kimiko, rather than Megumi's apprentice. Sometimes I was referred to as the Blue Lady. First behind my back, mere murmurs. But eventually it grew to be a common name. I might have seemed mystical, mysterious, scary, to them. I didn't talk much. I followed behind Megumi and did my duty.

I learned more, how to heal, make charms like subjugation collars, though I never did use such things, a shikigami, a barrier set in poles and paper, a seal, and some other odd things. I never spoke of the way I sometimes got a tingling feeling in the hairs of my neck, how one person was not to be trusted and another was good. I assumed that it was normal, and if it wasn't, I didn't want to be a freak. But my sixth sense, my instinct, was accurate enough, and it steered me pretty well. When I followed it, no trouble occurred.

One truly odd thing was how I never seemed to age. Even as Megumi grew older, I remained the same, young looking and strong. Sometimes I healed Megumi's aches, because her powers were never especially strong. Good enough, but I was the real power. She was the experience, but as time passed, I was the one who went away to aid people.

I guessed that the never aging was because my powers were so strong. They were in my entire body enormously, down to my pores, practically, and they might have counteracted the wear and tear of age. A cruel joke, for someone who sometimes wished to die.

I swore an oath, when I'd learned all I could from Megumi. To protect the innocent, yes. And I put my hand over my heart and swore, although I think we took different things from the ceremony. I didn't really consider some of the people I saved innocent. But they were intermingled with more innocent peoples. Few were really, truly innocent. But I saved them anyways, because that was what I was supposed to do. Even if they were distant and fearful, I did.

One day, Megumi died. I was never exactly certain what caused it, but I thought it to be her heart. I mourned her silently, quietly, and took the emotional burden that I'd been handed quietly. I rather wanted to follow her, but I was dutybound. I certainly never expected things to change, the hollow ache to dissipate. But one fateful day, a chance meeting changed things quite a bit. Not irrevocably, but I didn't want to change back. And perhaps that was my fault.

I was on my way to another odd village, another place where youkai had come. There were many of them. I'd sent a shikigami ahead to tell them I was coming. The odd little thing had managed to cling to existence without being destroyed for a while, through rain, shine, and random youkai attacks, and in an abnormal bit of wistfulness I'd dubbed it Buyo. Dancer. Much more worthy of the title than my fat cat.

I felt a demonic aura, and heard loud trampling noises. I stopped, readying my bow. For the sake of practice and getting rid of as many of the things as possible, I usually reined in my aura. But it didn't ward off the youkai, so occasionally some wandered into range.

A small shape burst through the bushes, humanoid and childlike. It was white, like snow, at first glance and in shock I almost let it run past me before I reached out and grabbed it with a hand. I got a better look now that it was held still, tethered by the hair, and I got a glimpse of fangs and doggish ears and wide, golden eyes. Wide with fright. Shocked, I released my hold, and it stumbled back. It was demonic, yes, but it was also frightened. The beastlike youkai I usually slaughtered were never frightened. Leering, startled, angry, but not frightened.

Turning, I saw some such youkai now, oni, leering and loud, shouting something about hanyou. It clicked, suddenly. I'd never seen one before, because they were rare at the best of times, but this must be one. I glanced at the hanyou, terrified, paralyzed. Staring at me and past me in turns.

I shot the oni, who hardly had time to let their faces change from gleefully vicious to startled before they dissolved to dust. I glanced back at the hanyou, who was bunched into a ball, staring into my eyes, really scared. It didn't seem more than a child, and pity blossomed in my heart. I could have probably tried to kill it. But I glanced over it, memorizing the long white hair and the doggy ears and the blunt claws and fangs and long toenails, shown by bare toes. And I couldn't find it in myself to kill it. It seemed innocent, vulnerable, and though cold I wasn't heartless. I nodded my head quietly to it.

And I walked away, leaving both the girl and myself dumbfounded.


	4. The Impulse

**Thanks for reading.**

**I've decided to change the story, with Kimiko being Kikyou. This was supposed to be Kagome, but honestly, it's more Kikyou. I suppose that's because she is her reincarnation, under a harsher origin story. Kagome will still show up. Everything's different here, and yet in a weird way the basics will remain. **

The girl.

It was all I seemed to think about nowadays. I'd continued on my way physically, slain the youkai bothering them. Seemed they were more oni, which didn't help me move on in my thoughts. The villagers offered to let me stay for the night, which was rare. Usually I only got to stay if the weather looked bad, or if it was especially cold. I was fed, sometimes paid in money or objects. I never asked for them, because it was mostly a token, so that I'd move on and they didn't have to deal with the odd, blue-eyed miko.

I could do a lot of things as a miko. I could make barriers, purifying or solid, merely blue tinge or blue-white and thick. I sometimes wondered briefly about the hows of my powers, such as why my solid barrier never left me gasping for breath. Then I remembered that this wasn't the place to be a scientist. I could only guess, and I kept it to myself. At least the light inside the barriers was simple. They had a glow all their own, just as potent as the sun, albeit blue.

Explanations were simple to do. I had more knowledge about how the world was thought to work than anyone else, and I could dismiss it as the magical workings here if it wasn't explainable.

The hanyou girl, however, was anything but simple. She wasn't nearby, and she wasn't something I could simply explain away. Why was she stupid enough to be alone in a demon-infested forest, if they weren't friendly? She might be part demon, but she was also part human. Humans normally paid attention to logic, like safety in numbers. There was only a disturbing explanation for it, and I shied away from it.

However, it made all too much sense. Hanyou were whispers, more legend than fact and feared about as much as demons. If demons didn't accept them, why would humans either? The girl could be an outcast, as much as any mixed race human back in Tokyo, or spiritually powered one here.

Without consciously realizing it, my heart went out to the child, and my grip on the bow tightened, making my pale fingers fade to almost pure white. Racism, whatever the victim was, remained just plain stupid and hateful. I remembered the whispers about the odd pairing between mother and father, muted by time but no less hurtful.

I'd had mother, and father before that. But I'd never actually needed to be afraid of the people around me. She was, though. Not to mention the lack of anyone around to protect her. I stewed on it for quite a while, though no one noticed, because I was always distant when I showed up. Maybe I'd try to search for her later, when I had no duties other than simply surviving until I needed to protect the villages again.

Oddly enough, a low excitement hummed through my veins, making my finger-tips flicker blue-white, fed by powers, before I extinguished the glow by sheer force of will. Demons were not very exciting. Exorcising them was not fun, nor satisfying, nor even scary, for what scared those who had nothing to lose? It was simply there, a duty, a burden. But the anger and sympathy I felt for the hanyou I'd seen filled my mind, my almost-numbed heart. It was a purpose that I chose, rather than simply allowing others to choose for me.

I decided to follow my impulse. I didn't have many, and when I did have them, I usually recognized them as mere folly, like starting a family, or growing older, like a normal person. Just distant wishes. Or sometimes it was one of the snappy remarks that you never made out loud. Like, for example, grumpily wishing that someone would stop talking for one second. Nothing I could really follow through on. Nothing really important.

I listened with half an ear to the villagers, focusing with the other half of my mind on the steady thrum of their auras, as they thanked me, then talked about the oni, or their neighbors. Idle gossip and the like. It reminded me that somewhere out there, from this village to Tokyo, wherever it was in relation to this Japan, there were normal people. They talked about the winter, war, fast-growing children. Anything. When was the last time I'd talked like that, even when I had the chance? I felt a little bitter about that, but it was only my own fault. No one else's.

I headed back towards the hut where I resided, still musing over the hanyou girl that I'd seen. I searched with my aura and couldn't find a thing. It didn't bode well. Either the girl was dead, or she was too far away for me to find her without abandoning my duty to the villages around the area, a burden passed on to me by Megumi. I thought about it, but eventually decided that I couldn't afford to wander blindly searching for a lone soul, who probably stayed far away from society. At that conclusion, I resigned myself to staying.

But I still sent out shikigami to search for her. After all, I had nothing better to do. I instructed them to return every so often, carrying news or the lack of it. I had nothing left to do now except hope and visit the Goshinboku and stare at it, and the well, as I'd done more and more often after Megumi had died. Why had the kami brought me here, to this miserable existence? I had no answer, and was forced to decide it was my punishment for leaving their game before they were done with me.


	5. Sick

**Thanks to Ryokomist, v-alice, and Lady Alzers for reviewing.**

**This chapter will be told from Inuyasha's point of view for the sake of variety. I believe the next chapter will be the same.**

When my life changed irreversibly, it usually started out under the guise of a perfectly ordinary day.

For example, the day my mother was sick seemed like any other day. I woke up and wandered around the castle, doing my best to stay away from people. Although uncle allowed mother to stay, he never liked me. No one did. No one except mom. And the weird flea Myoga, I suppose. He wasn't usually around though. Almost an imagined occurrence, except that mom had been around to see him once.

I returned to the room and burrowed under the covers, beside mom. But her skin… It was unusually warm, stifling. I wondered why, and asked mom.

"Why are you so warm?"

She blinked, drawing a hand up to touch and comfort me, but that just reminded me that she was too hot. Far too hot. And she smelled funny, too. Not quite normal, but I wasn't able to place what was wrong. Frowning, I looked for other differences. Her hand was clammy, and her face was flushed red as though she had been out in the sun too long.

"I'm sick."

"Sick?" I asked, because mom had never been sick before. I'd noticed some other people being "sick", but they had always made me especially uneasy. It was the same for mom. Why was she sick now? Would she get better, normal?

"Go and get Uncle."

At this my ears plastered flat to my skull. Uncle did _not_like me. He tolerated mom in a way, but all too often he'd tried to persuade her to "kill" me. I shivered. I wasn't entirely sure what that was. She'd said father was killed, and he wasn't around anymore. And "dead" was related to killed, I think. I didn't want to leave mom. She took care of me.

"Ok-kay…" I stuttered out, nervously eying mom before darting out the door. I rushed through the passages to where Uncle was, a place I usually avoided at all costs. He looked up at me and scowled, which only made me try to make myself even smaller.

"Momma's sick. She wants you." I forced out, resisting the urge to turn tail and run. His expression softened a little bit, but only slightly.

"Get out, half-breed!" he roared. I was only too happy to oblidge.

I rushed back to mom, watching her. Eventually a servant poked her head in, withdrawing in fright before looking back in, ignoring me as best as she could manage. I could see that she was afraid, though. She was shaking and her skin had paled considerably. I left. I was worried about mom, but people usually refused to go into the same room I was in, or to have anything but harsh words to do with me.

Nonetheless, mom was getting worse over the days. I could tell. One day, the servants ganged up on me. I'd heard them saying it was my fault she was sick, that I was a monster and a bad omen. But this was different. They said I had killed her and that they had to get me away before I killed someone else. That made no sense. I didn't want mom killed. But looking at the servants, armed with swords and blunt objects, I guessed they wouldn't talk.

I rushed to mom's room. I tried to stay away from it, because someone was with her all the time and they were scared or refused to come in when I was there. I saw mom. Her face was pale, her eyes closed. And her sickness-smell was even worse, tinged with a more sour odor. I poked her, trying to get her to sit up and talk to me. She didn't. I stared at mom for a while, sniffling, before bursting into tears. More servants came, shooing me out. I didn't want to leave mom, but she wouldn't respond to me or move, and that scared me a lot.

When they tossed me out, I didn't try to go back in. Even mom ignored the monster this time. Or was that what they meant by dead. Did mom ignore everyone now?

I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was lonely. I occasionally tried to talk to people, but they always recoiled in fear or tossed stones at me, to get me away. I snatched food. I knew it was wrong, but I was _hungry_, so hungry then. I fell in a stream, which was extremely cold, before recoiling. I sniffed at the stream, then lapped some up tentatively. It was water.

Once a month stayed cooped up in whatever shelter I could find, scared stiff and hoping no one found me. Mom had always warned to never let anyone know when I was human, normal. Once I was desperate enough to try. They gave me food as a human, and shelter, but when day came they chased me away, saying I'd eaten myself. They didn't know I had actually transformed, and I didn't trust them enough to tell them after that.

I shadowed the people, wondering how they got their food. I saw them doing weird things to the land, and later stuff grew there. I had to move from village to village, on the edge of society, before I saw them hunting boar. My mouth watered at the smell. I'd smelled it before, but usually blood was a bad sign. There was the death-smell too. But without the sickness lacing it, it was much less of a turn off.

Later, I tried hunting down my own boar. It squealed and ran at me, baring its tusks. I ran, before following it. I was so hungry that it overran my fear, and I clawed at it, trying to bat it away. I succeeded, and found it badly hurt by a tree.

It was still alive, but I was hungry at the same time as I was squeamish, and I tried to eat the boar. It wasn't quite the same as food the humans ate, didn't turn into their food, but it tasted similar enough to egg me on. The boar was too weak to fight back. Although my fangs weren't extremely animal-like, my jaw was strong. I was strong. I'd got my own meal.

I didn't have to steal it from the humans. Soon it smelled of death, the appetizing smell. I sloppily pulled it apart to try and eat it. I succeeded, and I didn't have to stray into villages as often. They never appreciated it, although they had tons of food. I sometimes daydreamed of find belonging, like the other kids, the human kids who were not half-breeds, but it was just that. A daydream.


	6. Return with Shikigami

**Chapter 6 : Returning with the Creepy Girls – ahem, Shikigami**

**I apologize for the delay. This story will be finished, although I have other ideas I'd prefer to do. Just so I don't guilt myself when I see other unfinished stories, really. This is Inuyasha's POV, if you can't guess.**

Faster! I need to go as fast as I can push myself, but I can't seem to force them to obey me. They ache and burn and they won't go any faster, no faster, they're slowing down as I continue. Luckily the forest is also getting thicker, and it's slowing them down more than me. It won't last long, though. Not long enough, if I don't get to the cave underneath the cliff.

The forest's a blur, I know it pretty well by now or I'd be dead. That's good, balanced out by everyone knowing there's a half-demon around. Almost there, almost almost-almostalmostalmo-

My momentum's broken when a hand, out of nowhere, grabs me. I'd have tumbled to the ground if the grip wasn't so strong, if my hair wasn't so thick. It hurts a lot, and the pain keeps me there, long enough to notice who'd grabbed me, long enough for the oni to catch up. A pale woman, pristine and only a little startled, her weird blue eyes examining me. Her dress was that of mikos, and my limbs locked. I'd only encountered them a few times before, and only twice when I wasn't human. I'd barely escaped with my life.

The strong grip loosened as quickly as it had grabbed me, and I stumbled back, paralyzed as the oni ran to us. She'd either die with me or kill me. Maybe both, if she was spiteful enough to attack me before the oni got here. She turned away, fluidly drawing an arrow, and pulling the string taunt, just as the oni appear, and then she releases it. One oni is dust now, she's strong enough to do that, but the other oni will probably kill her. There's only three more arrows. She draws another one, waiting a moment and seeming utterly unhurried when the rest appear. And she shoots them, and the arrow has just enough energy to get all of them. The miko turns, and I find myself paralyzed by her blue eyes, almost empty, like a specter that should be long-dead. I can't help myself, can't stop myself from cringing and my half-brother's words run through my mind.

"Weak vermin. You defile our bloodline. But you're too weak to bother killing."

I was only a weakling, and that was why I was chased down by humans and demons alike. Too weak to kill the oni, or the miko.

But her eyes didn't hold any accusation as she looked at me, just confusion and curiousity. She relaxed her hold on the bow, nodding at me, and then continued on her way. Like nothing had happened. Like I was no threat. I wasn't, but people either thought I was or scorned me my weakness. She… Didn't.

-T-I-M-E-S-K-I-P-

I couldn't stop thinking about it. What had she meant with her actions? Why hadn't she killed me? Who was she? _What _was she, that looked so pale, had blue eyes, and yet had the power to purify oni so easily?

I trailed around aimlessly, sticking close to the Cave-Under-The-Cliff before I wandered farther and farther away. It was stupid, moving away from protection. The Cave-Under-The-Cliff was effectively hidden from anyone unless you knew where to look. But… I just couldn't bring myself to stay there.

One day, during summer, I met an odd creature.

It was tiny, like a child, but it flew, along silently, its blue clothes the only real indicator, along with its scent, more of the tingle of purity mixed with where it'd been than anything else. And mixed with the miko's smell. I watched it, like humans sometimes watched a horse shortly before it either stopped or trampled them into the dust. Like I'd watched the miko before, when she'd grabbed me. It turned, and floated towards me.

"Follow." A voice said, just a faint word that I caught before the wind swept it away, or maybe it was all in my head. There was a sort of resonance to it, like there was something else, repeating it just a half-second afterwards.

"Why should I?" I asked, feeling scared. I still didn't know much about the miko. Or this thing, for that matter.

"The Blue Lady would like to see you." It responded simply, emotionlessly, with that echo-voice.

Then it swerved, spiraling around before heading in a seemingly random direction.

Curiousity overwhelmed reason and caution.

I followed.

Luckily I was a dog hanyou, not a cat one, and my curiousity didn't kill me. Or however that works.

It took a while to get there, and I noticed that some other weird girl-things appeared as well, on the edges of my vision. It made me tense, but none of them made any move to attack me, or anything else. They just seemed to watch me, as I followed them. It was too late to turn back.

Creepy flying girls aside, only one thing happened on the way there. A snake youkai, slithering towards us, looking confident and cruel. One of them shot quickly towards it, aglow. The youkai hissed and flinched away, pretending it hadn't seen us afterwards. I flinched too, because the girl started glowing, and it made my skin tingle unpleasantly. I walked at a pace that would tire a human quickly, but the girls hardly seemed to notice, keeping pace at whatever speed I happened to walk. I had to rest a few times, but they just stayed nearby like birds, watching me and watching their surroundings. They didn't seem impatient, or tired, or anything.

Eventually we got where we were headed. A small hut came into view, a stream of smoke steadily rising into the air from a fire in front of it. A woman looked up, in the same outfit, the same pale skin and blue eyes. The Blue Lady.

"You came." she said, her voice tinged with a bit of surprise.

"I did." I responded, wondering why she seemed so surprised, and why I was here in the first place.

"Would you like something to eat?" she asked, gesturing to the stew.

"No." I told her, but my grumbling stomach betrayed me at the delicious smell. Her brow lifted, and a light smile appeared that quickly vanished.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I stared at her hard for a moment, and she calmly looked right back. Not what I'd expect, really. But I was hungry, and she didn't need to poison me to kill me.

"Okay." I said, and she returned to the hut and came out shortly afterwards with a bowl. Dipping it into the same pot she'd gotten her stew from, she handed it to me, and I held it for a few moments before quickly devouring it. It was good! But it was soon gone, and she held out a hand for the bowl. I passed it over reluctantly.

"Would you like some more, girl?" she asked, continuing to watch me. I wasn't expecting it, and froze a moment before I realized she was offering me more food. Then I realized she thought I was a girl.

"I'm a boy!" I huffed, a little offended. She had the grace to look embarrassed, her white cheeks flushing red, although it was still alien to see the emotion. Or anyone. I wasn't around people much.

"Well, boy, would you like some more food?" she continued.

I nodded, and she passed the bowl back, filled with more stew. When I'd finished, I sighed happily, but continued watching the Blue Lady.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Inuyasha." I replied, talking coming more easily now.

"What's your name, and why am I here anyways?" I asked, feeling a bit more courageous on a full stomach.

"I'm Kimiko. And I wanted you to come here because you probably didn't have anyone to care for you."

That was it. I gave her a good long stare. Who would be willing to put up with me, just because no one else would? No one else seemed to care.

"If you want." she backtracked hastily.

"Yes." I whispered, but it hardly came out of my mouth at all. Shock, I guess.

"Yes!" I repeated.

"Yes." I said yet again, this time more to myself than anyone else.

**Too easily maybe, and not enough food for him (that was only two bowls of stew), but we're talking about Child!Inu here, who isn't as harsh and damaged as Canon!Inu.**


	7. Meet New People, then Panic! PoV changes

**The Miko and the Hanyou; Chapter 7**

**Yep. Though compressed, this won't be abandoned. Expect more updates, however sporadically placed.**

…**kikyou/kimiko…**

After Inuyasha, as the girl was named (and who turned out to be a long-haired boy) agreed, things shifted more than a bit. I had to find more food, rather than just practicing my archery, and the socialization pulled me out of a ditch, so to speak. It also resulted in… Awkwardness. My blue-gray eyes already made me suspect as not normal, even for a miko. The first time someone came to ask for an exorcism of some sort, there was panic and hysteria.

Suffice it to say that villagers put up a pretty good fight when you're not willing to kill them. It was only because of intense shielding I'd set up before, having far too much spare time to fret with, that kept me from staying awake at night after the backlash, to guard Inuyasha. In the end, they seemed to have decided that they needed a miko more than they needed to get rid of a potential demoness with a half-breed. Although I assume that when they find a decent, or amateurish, replacement, they'll send them to try to 'cleanse' us.

Should have guessed this would happen. Years and years have passed, so many that I've forgotten how many, except when I look at the weathered notches of the much-patched hut. I've stopped counting them. The notches are over fifty, some of them barely there. I still look the same. I think that my eyes look different, but that could just be in my head. And agelessness is a trait of demons. They have some strong evidence for their attack, even if I'm not hostile.

What will I do then?

It worries me even more how Inuyasha cowered and twitched, ready to run and fairly dejected at the outburst. He tried to hide first, and it was only when I came for him with a meal that he'd come out. I want him to come to me for comfort, but it was only an afterthought, when I offered it.

I… feel so useless. I hugged him, but it was stiff, and awkward, and not very motherlike at all. How am I supposed to help him, when I can't even help myself? I'm not exactly much for the warmth department. Cold eyes, pale skin. So pristine. Like a doll that you never take out of the box, but instead keep in mint condition. Forever.

I don't even scar. I don't know why, and I'm getting tired of the magic excuse. Whenever demons did manage to attack me, they simply burned up from the shields, and I survived. Gaping wound, poisoned, didn't matter. The Kami still need me around. Can't even put myself in a properly life-threatening situation.

Useless.

…

TIMESKIP

…

The latest rumors talk about some soul-purifying miko named Midoriko. Wonder if she's heard of Kimiko, the Blue Lady?

Things are better with Inuyasha, but I get the feeling that a rock could do better. He's a wonderful boy, curious, thoughtful, even if he's bad with words. I'm trying to teach him things, like reading and writing and what I know of plants, but he's a hanyou. No amount of compassion could allow me to teach him my brand of magic. He has his own. Whatever it will be. I have to hope so. Simply looking odd won't let him survive on his own, and luck is notorious for skipping people when it's needed.

I wish… No, don't wish, bad things happen when I _wish…_

Ah, who cares.

I wish that someone was around who could teach him to _talk. _To be happy, to be around with him. So he'd have a friend his own age. Maybe even a romantic interest, but no one's willing to give him a minute to catch his breath to save his life, let alone give him a second glance that way.

Someone like me, who doesn't mind that he's a hanyou. Who won't die in a short period of time, and leave him mourning. Who doesn't want to die, who can be angry with him but still move past that.

I wish for that person, most of all.

…?….

The first thing I'm aware of is emptiness. A big, floaty nothingness. But it flashes past me, and then there's a wave of sensation, a sort of tingly feeling, if you will. It's not painful, but not really pleasant, either, like your foot fell asleep but is waking up.

And then, like said foot, I wake up, and realize that I'm _really _hungry and my lungs are burning. Well, maybe not like a foot, but hopefully you'll know what I mean.

Except soon everything is burning, and I want to go back to nothingness, but soon the pain passes.

That kind of pain, anyways. Soon I start feeling and hearing and tasting and smelling and I think I'm seeing something, too. There's too _much, _though. Instead of nothingness, there's cold and hard and dry and high-pitched noise and something smooth and round and warm. I concentrate on that. It seems to draw me in. Nothing else matters, except that sort of warmth, and I can feel more warmth trickling in…

…inuyasha…

I guess I never really expected her to keep her promise, and let me stick around. No one else has, after all, and she doesn't seem exactly like mother. She isn't her, I know that, but I can't help but compare the two… I still miss mother.

On a happier note, I'm not hungry anymore, and nothing's attacking me.

…

I better go see where Kimiko is.

The doll-things aren't around, much to my relief, but neither is Kimiko. Where is she?

"Kimiko? Kiiimmmmiiiiiiikoooooo-? Where are you?"

I can feel my heart pound in my chest, in a panicked sort of way. Where is she? Where! Thud, thud, thud- My feet hit the ground in tandem, getting faster as I start running. I'm not sure why I want to run this way, but I do, and run I do.

I nearly trip over her, skidding to a halt an inch from her body, with my feet neatly out on the ground. I scramble up, check her. Oh why why why? This is my fault, I know it! I can feel the guilt pounding through me. Anyone who's nice to me has bad things happen to them…

Her skin's pale and still, her arms out at her sides. She's on her back, doesn't seem to have any blood anywhere, but that doesn't mean she's okay. Her presence… I don't know what it's called, but I always know when she's near. But even though she's right next to me, it doesn't _feel _like she is.

She's dead. I sit there, sort of numb, sobbing dryly.

Something touches me, and I turn to look quickly, almost instantaneously, shocked and defensive. There's a… a…

"Demon-girl!" I screech, coming quickly to the conclusion that she somehow killed Kimiko and she's gonna kill me next.

…?...

The warmth solidifies. For a moment, it's pure bliss-

Then it's cold again, and I shiver. Gotta get warm.

I sit up in a jerky movement, squint at the painful light. Everything's too much after being nothingness. Suddenly there's a high-pitched sound again, next to me, and I collapse, trying to bring my hands to my ears. I can only shriek back something just as high-pitched and nonsensical.

"!"

Limbs tighten and go limb. For a moment, I can see wonderful nothingness beckoning, and then it envelopes me…

…kikyou/kimiko…

For a moment, I can't feel anything. Then I'm floating in an emptiness, a ghost of sorts. But it isn't completely empty. There's something there, and it isn't pleasant. I squint, trying to find it.

"Hello, Kikyou." A disembodied voice echoes. I jolt like I've been tasered. It's been years and years since someone referred to me with that name, but I've never forgotten.

"Who are you?" Skip straight to questions. I'm floating in a void with something else that knows my real name, and I can't see anything. Maybe I should remember how to be polite, but I can't make myself bother.

Concentrate-

I can feel something. Lust, longing, greed, fear, power. It's all one thing, yet not quite, like someone mixed water, flour, and oil, mostly mingling with with a tiny bit that doesn't. Flashes of a life not my own.

"I can see you're already grasping what happens in the Shikon no Tama." The voice is amused. Cold. _Hungry_.

"You- you're in that old… that new… the legend about the jewel's origin!" I stutter out.

"Yes. And you get a wish. Anything within our power. You wanted to get away, and you're far, far away from home. You wanted a friend for your little half-breed-"

"Hanyou." I growl. "The term is hanyou."

"Wait, what?" I can't quite comprehend it at first, but then I do, and my voice gets much more angry. "_You're behind this!_"

"Yes. I couldn't quite manage to bind your power, and you gave Midoriko the upper hand. She sealed me away for a number of years. But we're bonded with you, too."

"What?"

"A priestess named Kaede was entrusted with the Shikon. She hid it away for a while, but she was eventually fatally wounded. She was burned along with the jewel, and the Shikon no Tama came with her when she was reincarnated."

"Now Midoriko's escaped. But you're stuck here. Now, what are we to do with you…" he taunted.

"Nothing. She was a priestess, and so am I. I'm a _purifying _priestess. She used soul magic. I'll just make you cease to exist if you try anything." I growl. The demon shifts, looking a little unsettled. So am I. I'm not nearly as off-balance here as I should be. That changes shortly.

"Wait… Midoriko escaped? How? She was around, and I didn't notice anything odd."

"No. _She_ escaped just now. Her original form lasts for a few years, before we find her unwanted suitor and… offer him a deal."

He trails off in thought, and so do I, before I come to a conclusion.

"Inuyasha could be in danger. I've got to get back. _Now_."

"Impossible. There must always be two people here."

"… Do you have a manual for being stuck in a gem for eternity, or are you just guessing?"

"…"

"I'm going home, now." I concentrate on home, on Inuyasha, on my own sense of urgency. Nothing.

Guess I'm going to have to kill off the demon before I can return to protect Inuyasha from Midoriko. Wishes are lots of trouble.

…

**I doubt that the talk between Kikyou/Kimiko and the demon that Midoriko fought was right. It pushes the plot along, though, and that's what I'm worried about.**

**Guess who's freaking out Inuyasha. Really, try.**


End file.
